Improved apparatus for preparing peat fuel



I ASHCROFT & BETTELEY.

Peat Machine.

No. 44,062. Patented Sept. 6. i864.

EDVARD H. ASHCROFT, OF LYNN, AND ALBERT BETTELEY, OF BOSTON,

MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PEAT FUEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,062, dated September 6, 1864.

To all whom) it may concern;

Be it known that we, EDWARD H. ASH- CROFT, of Lynn,.in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, and ALBERT BET- TELEY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Apparatus for Preparing Peat; and

we do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawing which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is a description of our invention, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

This invention relates to machinery to be employed principally in the preparalim of peat for use as afuel, the invention consisting in the construction and arrangement of parts of the machine, as we will proceed to describe. The value of pea: as a fuel has been acknowledged for many generations; but in this country the supply of wood and coal has been so abundant and their superiority to peat in most respects so great that peat has been used to a very small extent; and in those places where it is employed but little care or intelligence is used to properly prepare it, it being imperfectly dried by the sun and atmosphere, and being generally burned without compression or condensation. As othr r fuel becomes more scarce in supply, attention is being turned to the artitieial preparation of peat, in order to bring it to the best, possible state for use as regards its composition, density, and freedom from water. Peat has been sometimes compressed into a very small bulk in comparison to its natural condition, and has sometimes been finely subdivided by trituration before such compression; but it has been customary to compress all the substance in the peat without respect to the varying qualities of its component parts as regards decomposition or burning and heating qualities. As most peat, however, contains a very considerable percentage of undecomposed vegetable matter not so valuable for burning as the more decomposed part, it is desirable in preparing peat to separate these component parts. This has been ett'ected to some extent before our invention by pressure of the finer parts of the peat through a screen, leaving the more fibrous matter on the side from which the pressure is given. By this operation the meshes of a EOIBGH soon become clogged withfiber, and the l l I. I

machinery requires great care and attention to keep it in good order. ith our apparatus the peat in its natural and wet state is first placed in a mill provided with a series of retating arms or knives, by which the peat is cut up and stirred into a pulpy mass. After thus triturated to asuflicient extent the pulpy matter is fed into a separator provided with revolving arms, by which the long fibrous or undecomposed matter is extracted from the peat and ejected from the separator. From this separator the decomposed and now homogeneous matter is fed through a tube by means of arotating feed-screw, the bottom of the tube being provided with a gate, against which the peat is fed and compressed by the screw, the

opening or passage by or through the gate bein g so adjusted as to regulate the pressure of the screw upon the peat, and the tube being provided with openings and surrounded with gauze, so that the Water pressed from the peat shall be thrown from the tube. The peat thus freed from water and undecomposed matter is fed into another cylinder, from which it is ejected in such form as may be desirable by a piston, this cylinder beingalso perforated and screened and provided with a gate to regulate the outlet therefrom, so that the peat may be still further condensed and desiccated by pressure before leaving the machine.

The drawing represents an elevation in perspective of an apparatus embodying our invention.

a represents a vertical receiving-cylinder provided with a vertical shaft, 1), from which extend the triturating knives or arms 0. The wet peat from the bog being thrown into the cylinder through its open top, rotation is given to the shaft b, by which the peat is stirred and agitated, and as it is rendered sufficiently pulpy it sinks to the bottom of this vessel and is fed through a tube, 01, by a feed-screw, c, the rotation of which carries the peat down over and into the separator/'1 This separator is provided with two horizontal rotary shafts, g h, each of which has a series of arms, i is, projecting diametrically from it, the lower set, i, revolving within the vessel f, and the other set above the same, and they beingso arranged that the arms of one set pass between those of the other, as will be readily understood from the drawing. A band, I,

-they fall or are conducted away from the apparatus. The pulpy peat, now rendered homogeneous and free fr nn undecomposed fibrous matter, runs into a tube, (1, in which it is compressed by the roiaion and downward action of the threads of a screw, 1'. This screw is driven by a belt, 8, running from a pulley on the screw-shaft to a pulley on one of the shafts g h. A gate, 8, is placed at the bottom of the tube, the gate closing or partially closing the entrance of the tube into the cylinder t below. WVhen the material is sufficiently compressed and dried by the action of this screw, the gate is withdrawn, so as to allow the peat to be fed by the screw into the cylinder; or the gate may but partially close the opening from the tube to the cylinder, so that the operation of exhaustin g the water from the peat and feeding the desiccated matter into the cylinder may be proceeding simultaneously. The water which exudes from the peat is pressed through small perforations in the tube, and thence through ascreening or gauze on the outside thereof.

The desiccated peat is fed into the cylinder t in front of a piston, to, on a rod, 11, and when a sufficient quantity of peat has been deposited in the cylinder the piston is driven forward; driving the peat out of a tube, 2, in the end of the cylinder. To still further compress and dry the peat, the cylinder is furnished with perforations and a gate, 20, to regulate the discharge. A core-rod, 00, extends into the cylinder, and causes the compressed peat to be forced from the cylinder in the form of a tube, which we consider to be the best form in which the peat can be kept for use, the hole through the peat keeping it dry. By this apparatus the common peat, as it is cut from a peat-bog, may, by artificial treatment and preparation, be made into a valuable fuel suited for transportation, and in convenient form for sale and for use.

- We claim 1. The arrangement of a 'triturating, separating, and desiccatin g mechanism, to operate together in the manner and for the purpose substantially as set forth.

2. The employment of the two series of revolving arms 1' It, for separating the fibrous and undecomposed part of the peat from the finer and decomposed parts, substantially as set forth.

3. The use of a feedserew in combination with a gate or retarder, by means of which the peat is compressed and fed, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the coring-rod x and tube 2, to operate in the manner set forth.

E. H. ASHCROFT.

ALBERT BETTELEY.

Witnesses:

F. GoULn, S. M. MCINTIRE. 

